


Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

by benjaminrussell



Category: Generation X (Comic), Marvel, Wolverine and the X-Men
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-17
Updated: 2012-10-17
Packaged: 2017-11-16 12:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/539544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjaminrussell/pseuds/benjaminrussell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angelo Espinosa was crucified on the lawn of the X-Mansion with several other mutants by the Church of Humanity. Years later, he somehow finds himself alive and unharmed, as if it never happened. Deciding to go to the X-Men for help, he heads to the school in Westchester where, unknown to him, his best friend, Jono, is now a teacher.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Angelo still didn’t have a clue how he ended up back in the land of the living, but as he’d done when he’d, for want of a better term, woken up he pushed the confusion to the back of his mind, instead concentrating on working out how to get to Westchester. First find the X-Men, he’d decided, and then work out what on Earth had happened. He was trying very hard not to think about the whole ‘being killed and somehow coming back’ thing, especially considering how his stomach clenched whenever he remembered Jubilee and the others nailed up beside him. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his mind of the images once more, he started towards the main road of the town he’d found himself in, hoping to hitch a lift in the vague direction of the mansion, but as he waited for the next vehicle to pass he found himself wondering just how much the place had changed since his death. Spotting the day’s date on a newspaper discarded at the bus stop had given him yet another shock as he worked out just how long it’d been. He’d been gone a damn long time.

Finally arriving at the school a few hours later, Angelo stopped outside the front gates and peered through to see and well, wow. The entire building had changed, and it wasn’t just from the aftermath of a fight – there were ice sculptures that weren’t melting despite the heat, futuristic looking extensions and even a couple of floating towers! If he hadn’t already seen the date, he definitely would have thought he’d been dead a lot longer. Luckily there were several students in sight so hopefully he wouldn’t have to fend off an attack from the school’s defences just to reach the front door. Glancing around, he realised that one of the students had already spotted him, a younger boy who looked uncannily like the villain Apocalypse. Putting the resemblance down to yet another thing that had changed rather than another attempt to take over the planet, he waved to get him to come closer, grinning when the gesture was followed. Soon enough there were three students gathered around the other side of the gates, eyeing him a little warily.

“Who are you? What do you want?” The one who’d spotted him first asked a little shyly, before his friend added, “Do you have an appointment with one of the professors? Are you here to join us in this glorious learning experience?” Angelo would have sworn that the second kid to speak was a miniature Brood, but none of them were being implanted with alien eggs, so he guessed it had to be just another unlucky resemblance. What was this, Xavier’s School for Children who look like Super Villains? A glance at the badges on their uniforms informed him it wasn’t even Xavier’s anymore though; it was now the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. He wondered what had happened to the Professor but supposed it was apt that the place he was seeking help was named after the original X-Man to come back from the dead.

“My name’s Ang. I was hoping to talk to one of the X-Men actually,” He replied after a moment, pausing before adding as an afterthought, “I used to be a student here.” The three of the them had a short whispered discussion that was no doubt about whether they should let him in, every so often glancing at him, before the girl with a pretty cool afro told him to step back so she could open the gate. Smiling his thanks, he did as he was asked, not at all feeling a little nervous at the prospect of approaching the X-Men. The students led him up the drive and through the doors of one of the more normal looking buildings, at least if you defined the original mansion as normal, before coming to a halt in a short way along the hallway inside. The one whose name turned out to be Evan knocked on the door firmly and called out, “Professor Starsmore? There’s a visitor here.” Starsmore, really? Angelo chuckled to himself, not being able to imagine Jono as a teacher, even at this particular school. Was he teaching the kids cockney rhyming slang?

“One minute, Evan,” The familiar feel of Jono’s telepathy touched his mind as the reply came and he embraced the familiarity in the few seconds before the door swung open to reveal the owner of the voice. There was a moment of silence where they stared at each other, but then before he really knew what happening Jono had thrown himself at him, yelling so forcefully that it reverberated around his skull, “’ow dare you come in ‘ere lookin’ like ‘im?! ‘ave you no respect for the dead?” They both hit the floor hard, Angelo rolling automatically as instincts ingrained from several years of combat training took over.

“I never had much respect for myself, you know that. Why should I start now?” He grunted, whilst attempting to wrap Jono’s hands in strips of skin to stop him punching him in the face.

“Angelo Espinosa‘s been dead for years, you bastard.” With his fists now incapacitated, Jono just resorted to head-butting him instead, making Angelo’s head snap back and his vision swim slightly. The momentary lull in his defence let Jono roll them over again and pin Angelo down.

“Rachel! I need you outside my office now!” The telepathic shout sounded as if it was broadcasted to the entire school, in that eerie way that made it sound as if the speaker was in the same room as you, no matter where you were. Angelo stopped fighting and let himself be pinned to the ground now that he wasn’t about to be hit and instead racked his brain, trying to remember if there were any X-Men called Rachel. When none came immediately to mind he looked Jono directly in the eyes and told him quietly, “It’s me, amigo. Ask me something that only I’d know so I can prove it.”

"What was the last thing you said to me before you died?" Leaning up slightly so his lips were next to Jono's ear, he whispered his reply so no-one else could hear, keeping the words secret even years later. He could see Jono wanted to believe him and was about to speak when the sound of someone running reached his ears, shortly followed by the appearance of a red-costumed woman who he assumed was Rachel.

“What’s wrong?” Despite her question obviously being aimed at Jono, she eyed Angelo warily as she slowed to a stop next to them, on guard in case he suddenly tried to attack or escape. Without breaking eye contact, Jono sat up, freeing his arms and replied bluntly, “Is he tellin’ the truth? ‘as ‘e just come back from the dead?” His voice didn’t betray any of what he was thinking as he’d always been good at hiding his emotions that way, helped by the fact he didn’t have a throat or vocal cords to get choked up, but Angelo had also gotten better at reading his expressions and body language than most people, and he thought Jono was trying to squash down hope that he might be who he said he was; not wanting to believe that he’d come back in case it was a trick and he had to deal with the grief all over again. Then he felt a gentle touch in his mind and his gaze snapped to Rachel, who had the first two fingers of one hand pressed against her temple in that gesture that always signified a telepath but that he could never see a real reason for. Did it tune them into a person’s thoughts like moving the TV aerial tuned the TV? After a few moments, she gave a small smile and nodded and suddenly Jono was trying to crush him again, this time by yanking him up into a tight hug.


End file.
